Francesco Gardin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Francesco graduated in Theoretical Physics at Padova University in 1979, before undertaking a UK Government research project at Exeter University (UK) from 1980 to 1982. In 1983 he was employed by the Italian National Research Council. From 1984 to 1985 he worked at the European Union Research Centre in Ispra, Italy as Coordinator of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In 1983, Francesco Gardin founded AISoftw@re SpA to develop and distribute Artificial Intelligence systems within Italy, which he took public on NASDAQ Europe in 1999 and Milan Stock Exchange in 2000. He sold the company in 2005 through a merger and agreed to remain as non-executive Chairman until March 2008. The company is now called Exprivia and when he left it employed more than 1,400 people with revenues in excess of £70m.
In February 2002 Professor Gardin became Chairman of The Company until February 2011. He was re-appointed as Chairman and CEO of the Company in July 2015. During the period between February 2011 and July 2015, Prof. Gardin had no association with the Company.
Since 2006 he has also worked extensively in China, and in March 2007 became CEO of China IPO Group plc, wholly owned by Brainspark plc, focusing on investments in China. In March 2008 he became a Board Member of IPO Beijing Investment Consulting Company Ltd., the China IPO Group plc Chinese subsidiary, with offices in Beijing and Xi'an. The company was subsequently demerged from Brainspark in December 2009. On 18 December 2008, he was appointed executive Director of London Asia Capital plc, a UK company investing in Asia, to review and maximize the returns of the investment portfolio. He resigned in July 2013. On 2 October 2013, he was appointed to the board of Pan European Terminals PLC, listed on AIM of the London Stock Exchange. He resigned in July 2014 following a successful June bid for the company, which was then taken private. In December 2014 he founded, together with a business partner, First IPO Capital Ltd, a UK company aiming at financing IPO costs to companies listing on the London AIM market.
During the last twenty years, he has been the Director of almost fifty companies in Italy, the UK, the USA, Israel, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Mauritius and Jersey. From 1984 to 2014, he has been a Research Associate Professor at Udine, Milano and Siena University lecturing on Artificial Intelligence, Theory and Application of Computation, and Virtual Reality. His academic papers include more than 50 individual and joint publications and three books on the subject of Artificial Intelligence as editor.
Mark Trafeli – Non-Executive Director
Mark (aged 58) is a lawyer qualified in England and Wales, California and New York. Based in London, he has extensive expertise in regulation, compliance and corporate governance. He is currently General Counsel for the Broadway Gaming Group, an enterprise in the online gaming sector with operations in multiple countries and licences from the Gambling Commission of Great Britain. He also maintains a private law practice that he established in 2008 advising on UK and USA-related financial services, stock exchange regulation, commercial contracts, M&A, corporate governance, compliance, and litigation.
Previously, Mark served as General Counsel and Interim Head of Compliance at RJ O’Brien Europe, a London based FCA regulated clearing firm with multiple exchange memberships and General Counsel to First World Trader (Pty) Limited, a leading South African global fintech company best known for its Easy Equities platform.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science and a Juris Doctor (JD) in law, both from the University of Michigan.
Vladimir Basilio Kusznirczuk - Non-Executive Director
Mr Kusznirczuk, a US citizen based in London, has previously had roles in sales and business development at AT&T, Sprint/T-Mobile and BlackBerry Ltd. He has been QBT’s Marketing and Business Development Manager since May 2023
Mr Kusznirczuk holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Rider University and a Bachelor's degree cum laude in Decision Sciences, Statistics and Computers from the same university.